You've probably already begun to be bombarded with information, so we thought we'd give you a list of terms that might help you to decode things you've been told: 

Palatinate
A tricky term, used all over the University for various things:
Bishop Palatine – a medieval Prince Bishop of Durham – wore a particular shade of purple which has since been known as palatinate purple.
All Uni sports teams play in purple, hence you may see Durham teams mentioned as ‘the Palatinates’. The sport connection continues with the annual Durham Uni Sports dinner named ‘The Palatinate Dinner’.
Durham’s award-winning student newspaper is also called ‘Palatinate’.

Prince Bishop
Named after some of Durham’s earliest governors, the ‘Prince Bish’ (also affectionately known as ‘The Bish’ or ‘The Boat’) is a disco and bar/BBQ on a li’l boat that chugs up and down the river. You can buy tickets to go on it after Klute on Sundays, or you can rent it out for private parties – it’s very popular in the summer. Serves ridiculously strong jugs of vodka redbull. We also hire it from time to time for our own events.

Studio
Studio is a club next door to Loft – Loft being the former name for DH1/Rixies. It's very good - and very popular with students on Monday and Tuesday.

Klute
The name of Durham’s ‘favourite’ club: voted the second-worst club in Europe (then the worst closed down), many students live for nights out there and auctions for a Klute VIP card have raised obscene amounts of money. Others love to hate Klute, or just plain hate it (the music is unashamedly pure cheese and it’s almost always heaving with people, resulting in what is known as ‘Klute Rage’ as people fall into you) but it is undeniably a Durham institution. See RAH

Loveshack
Durham’s ‘other’ club (there are a few more!) officially called ‘Loveshack’ and can be found on the newly developed Walkergate complex, along with Slug and Lettuce, Bishops Mill and Fat Buddha. Generally most popular on Wednesday nights when they play an entire mix of music, from R'n'B to Dance to Cheese to Chart.

The Hill
The 'Hill' is, quite simply, a hill on the other side of the peninsular (the bit of land with the Cathedral on the top) to Hild Bede. It's home to about half of the colleges and there is something of a 'looking down' by those on the BAILEY. Secretly, all hill students wish they were on the Bailey. Honest. The colleges on the hill are the newer ones, and comprise Collingwood, Trevelyan, Mary's, van Mildert, Aidans, Grey, Ustinov and Josephine Butler.

The Bailey
Hild Bede is neither Bailey nor Hill, though we resemble both in many ways. Furthermore, we look down upon the Bailey who look down upon the Hill. The Bailey is set on one main street leading out of the city centre and (ironically) towards the hill. Its colleges comprise Castle ('University College', who aren't technically on the bailey as such, though aren't far off enough to warrant their own description), Hatfield, Chad's, St Cuthbert's Society ('Cuth's') and John's. I would go into describing the general character of the places, but that takes some of the fun out of it.

Stockton
Not quite sure how to put this to you. Stockton, as it were, is, in a manner of speaking, somewhat, some would say, different to us. It is a campus over near Stockton (about half an hour by bus) and comprises the two Colleges of John Snow and George Stephenson.

Rah
There are several schools of thought as to why public school kids are called Rahs. Some spell it RA and say it stands for Rich Arsehole. I don't think so. While it is quite a derogatory term, I think it's short for the older term 'Hoorah Henry'. A Rah once suggested to me that it's beacuse of their accents: "Klute is rahly rahly nice" or "rahther!". Anyway, etymology aside, it's a rather nasty term for those who went to posh schools. But beware, if you use the term against them then they are perfectly within their rights to call you pleb, scally, peasant or similar. Social snobbery works both ways.

Stash
Stash is unavoidable in Durham – even if it’s only your freshers’ t-shirt, you will at some point own a piece of clothing with a Uni/College crest on it that sports your name or the name of a club/society of which you are a member (polo shirts and hoodies are the most popular). Theatre companies/Ball committees often use stash to advertise a forthcoming production/event – sitting in lectures looking at people’s backs can set up your entire week’s social calendar!

-age, -ness
Used for everything, eg. Klutage, bar-crawlage, stressedness, randomness, etc. try it yourself!

Hound
The Durham-Rhyming-Slang term for Planet of Sound (PoS), the Union’s Friday night clubbing night.

The Walk of Shame
If you’ve been so fortunate as to have scored with someone the night before and have gone back to theirs, the Walk of Shame is that which you will experience as you make your way home in the wee hours (whilst everyone’s walking to lectures), perhaps still dressed in last night’s black tie outfit/clubwear. You may have ‘stolen’ a jumper from your object of desire in an attempt to diminish your embarrassment, but you know that you will be seen by someone you know, and perhaps mocked for this in the future.

Town/Gown
Used to describe relations between the Durham’s locals and the University.

DUCK
In most other universities, the charities committee is called RAG, but years ago, Durham’s RAG pulled a stunt involving breaking into and out of the high security prison (they left a milk tray, apparently). They were banned from using the name RAG, which is no great hardship, because we now have wicked stash featuring lots of cute ducks.

The Rules of the Game
Challenger approaches a table at Formal: "Do you know the rules of the game?"

Challenged: "It would be rude not to." (do not variate from this)

Challenger flips coin. Winner's table stand with sportsmanlike manner and down the contents of their glasses.

Beware: those who get pissed and challenge everyone. You don't want them on your table. Those who use double headed coins. Cheats. Those who use anything other than a two pence piece. Phoneys.

Pennying
When someone chucks a penny or 2p piece into your glass when your hand is round the glass (whether it’s on the table or not) you must down its contents.

No.24 the North Bailey (24s)
Is the address of Durham Union Society’s (DUS – the debating society, not to be confused with DSU, the Student Union) bar. It’s very compact, and specialises in cocktails and shooters. I recommend the Jelly Baby. Yummy.

Bops
Are just like school discos with loads of cheesy music and daft things. They happen straight after formals and culminate with a group dance to 'Never Forget' by Take That. It's great.

Com
Is short for Committee eg BarCom, BallCom, etc. You might hear Lewis talking about PresCom, the committee of all the Student Presidents across the University.

Dunelm House
Is the official name of the Student Union, unfortunately, despite being designed by the same man who designed Sydney Opera House, it is probably the ugliest building in Durham!

Exec
Are the group of people who run the SRC.

JCR
Junior Common Room is the undergraduate population of college. There is also an MCR (Middle Common Room, for Post Graduates). The SRC works as a combination of both, unlike other colleges who separate them.

Kingsgate
Student Union bar and a very unstable looking bridge that connects the Union to the Bailey.